Anxiety
by Larner
Summary: It's Ginny Weasley's first year at Hogwarts, and one of her brothers doesn't appear to have made the Hogwarts Express.


_For Alan and Cindy and Nina for Christmas, with great satisfaction. Beta by RiverOtter, who usually is looking over my Tolkien fanfiction instead!_

Anxiety

"We need to hurry, Ginny. Oh, why does this always seem to happen that we don't get to the station until the very last minute? And I thought your father would never find a place to set the car, you know. If he hadn't seen that place open up like that...."

Ginny Weasley grimaced. "He _parked_ the car, Mummy. You _park_ a car, you don't _set_ it!" Apparently her mother hadn't seen her father do a bit of wand work to stretch out part of the pavement so that he could park the little Ford Anglia between two Muggle cars that had been practically bonnet to boot.

"Park--set--does it really matter, dear? I mean, Ginny, that we are pushing the limit this year. We have only minutes to spare at this point. Now, I'll see you through onto the platform."

"Mum! I can do it myself!"

"Nonsense. After all this is your first time going off to school on your own."

Ginny went through the barrier between platforms Nine and Ten with her mother holding tight to her hand. She cast one last despairing glance over her shoulder at her brother Ron and Harry Potter, hoping they didn't notice that Mummy was treating her like a baby once again. Fortunately they weren't paying that much attention. Ron was looking about at the hurrying Muggles who surrounded them out there while Harry was checking the time. It was really too bad they were so late, but she refused to consider it her fault, even if one of the trips back to the Burrow had been to fetch away her diary. Then she and her mother were on the actual platform and there was no further time to do much but hurry onto the Hogwarts Express. Oh, how she'd looked forward to this day, when she was finally old enough to go with her remaining brothers still living at home away to school and not have to take lessons from her mother any longer.

"Here's your ticket, dearest. Now, where is--oh, Fred, George, there you are. Here--your tickets, and no nonsense this year, do you understand? I don't want a single owl----"

"Yes, Mum," Fred said impatiently as he hastily grabbed one of the tickets she held out. "Oh, there's Dad--I think he's just realized he doesn't have the one for Percy."

Ginny took advantage of the distraction to give her wand a small wiggle so as to levitate her trunk onto the train. She'd had Ron teach her several such simple spells over the summer. Certainly they were sufficiently commonplace that the detector charms set by the Ministry of Magic weren't likely to recognize they were being performed by underage wizards, and especially in this crush. With an addition of "Locomotor trunk" she quickly had herself well inside the carriage and in search of a compartment with room before her mother could crush her with a dreaded last hug and even more dreaded advice.

Ah--there was room in this one! She put her head in through the open door and asked, "Is it all right if I sit with you?"

Two of the girls here were obviously twins, both with raven hair caught in identical dark braids down their backs, their equally dark eyes examining her curiously.

"The Weasleys have a daughter?" asked one of them as the train gave a lurch prior to moving out of the station.

Ginny felt uncertain.

"Yes," she said. "But you can't believe I'm anything like Percy."

The one who'd spoken laughed. "I suppose you will end up in Gryffindor, too."

Ginny shrugged as the whistle blew.

"I very well might," she admitted. "I mean, both Mum and Dad were Gryffindors, and all of my aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents for at least three generations back, I think. Plus all my brothers. Are you both in Gryffindor, then?"

"She is," the other twin answered. "I'm in Ravenclaw, myself. We're Padma and Pavarti Patil."

"Oh, then you're second years, with Ron and Harry."

"Yes," Padma said, her voice slightly cooler. Pavarti gave her a warning look.

The other girl in the carriage smiled at Ginny. "Hello. I'm Hannah Abbot. I'm in Hufflepuff."

"Ginny Weasley."

"Let me help you with your trunk."

"Oh, I can take care of it." So saying Ginny swished and flicked, and with a well pronounced _"Wingardium leviosa,"_ she had the trunk up into the rack.

"Ooh," said Hannah admiringly, "I had to work for weeks on that one."

Ginny felt smug. "I've been going through my textbooks already."

Pavarti Patil shuddered. "Oh, no--another Hermione Granger!"

Ginny sat down rather suddenly as the train began moving in earnest. "Oh, it must be eleven o'clock then. We're off!"

Hannah checked her wristwatch. "Yes--we're right on time, then. It always amazes me how many folk wait till the last moment to get to the station!"

Ginny wondered if she were flushing, and turned to look out the window. Another girl came through the door, a rather sad-faced waif with a brown ponytail and wary eyes, a cloth bag filled with knitting and wool over her shoulder. At the nod of acceptance Pavarti Patil gave her, she slid her own trunk into the room, and with Hannah's help finally got it up in the rack, at which time she sat down next to Ginny. She didn't introduce herself, but remained sitting rather indecisively in the corner, much of the time either biting at her ragged fingernails or playing with the hem of the blue jumper she wore over a pale knit shirt. Finally she reached into her bag and brought out a pair of knitting needles and a ball of rose wool and began casting on stitches.

After about a quarter of an hour George peered in, and his face looked relieved. "There you are, then. Why didn't you come with us and Lee Jordan? We have a compartment to ourselves so far."

Ginny made a face at him. "Why would I wish to sit with you three?"

George shrugged. "Have it your own way, then. Have you seen either Harry or Ron? When we got on, just as the train started moving, they still hadn't gotten their tickets from Mum."

Fred appeared alongside his brother. "They're not down that way--that's for certain."

"You don't think that they've managed to miss the train do you?" Ginny asked, feeling anxious.

"Dunno. Shouldn't have insisted we go back for that diary of yours."

George added, "And since when have you been keeping a diary, Ginevra?"

Ginny flushed deeply. "Don't call me that, George! You know how I hate it!"

"All the more reason--" he began, then ducked out of the doorway as she flung a dung bomb at him, one of several she'd slipped out of his room that morning and kept in her pocket for just such a need. "Not fair!" he complained, his eyes starting to tear as he looked back in. "Using our own dung bombs on us!"

"Go away!" she yelled, getting up and rolling the compartment door closed, almost catching both of them on the side of the head.

Hannah Abbot laughed. "Brothers!"

Soon afterwards the door opened again as Percy looked in, his hornrimmed glasses flashing and his expression worried. "Hello, Ginny. At least you made it. Mum was most upset not to get a goodbye from you, you know."

"I know--that's why I slipped aboard the train, or most likely I'd still be there on the platform getting smothered in hugs from her. Has anyone found Ron and Harry yet?"

"Not that I know--we're looking for them."

"Maybe I should help----"

"No need. You just stay put so we know where you are."

"So, you think I'd get lost somehow on the train, do you?" Ginny felt her temper rising. "I can help look, same as you!"

"There's just no need! And who threw dungbombs in the corridor, do you know? It's against the rules!" So saying, he backed out of the doorway, slamming the door shut after himself as if to make certain she would stay put.

"Percival Weasley--the perfect prefect!" muttered Pavarti. Padma giggled.

Ginny glared at them, but Hannah leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Don't mind them--it's not as if either of them is likely to be made prefect."

"Oh," Ginny confided, "I know Percy's a perfect prat at times, but still, he's my brother after all."

"And Fred and George do everything on earth to be the complete opposite of Percy," Hannah added. "Ron is all right, though. He's a nice boy."

Ginny raised her eyebrows at that, and suddenly she and Hannah were laughing together. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be in Hufflepuff, she thought, if she would be with girls like Hannah.

"I still want to look for Ron and Harry," she said after a moment. "They were supposed to follow us. I mean, there was Mum and me, then the twins, and then Dad and Percy--I think that was the order we were supposed to go in, at least. I know, though, that Ron and Harry were last. What if they couldn't get through in time, though? What if one of those station guards stopped to talk to them, to ask why they had an owl in a cage? I mean, it happened to Percy once when he came through with Errol."

"Oh, is Errol his owl?"

"Errol is our family owl. He's getting rather old now, and we need to get a new one, really. But a couple of years ago he brought Errol to school with him. It didn't really work, and after one trip home not long before Christmas he just wasn't up to flying back again. Dad had to ask the Diggories if he could use their owl to take the answer back--as luck would have it they were about to send something to their son Cedric so they let us send our letter with theirs."

Hannah nodded. "Well, let's go see if we can find them."

Together they rose and left the compartment, nodding to the Patil twins and the other girl as they went. They carefully crossed to the next car and searched there, questioning the students either one recognized. No one appeared to have seen Harry or Ron at all, not on the train, and not on the platform.

As they crossed to the next car they found Hermione Granger on her way toward the front of the train. She searched Ginny's face. "Then you haven't seen them, either?" she asked.

"No, I haven't, not since we first got to King's Cross. Did Percy already let you know?"

"Yes, although he said not to be worried about it. Not that he's not worried himself. I'll bet as soon as we reach Hogwarts he'll be heading up to the owlery right away to notify your parents."

"He'll probably send one to Harry's aunt and uncle, too," Ginny said thoughtfully, "not that _they_ would care, anyway. They were dreadful to Harry. Did he tell you they locked him into his bedroom and put bars on the window? They said he wasn't to go back to Hogwarts."

"Did he tell you that?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"No--I mean, I hardly speak with him, really. No--Fred and George told me after they got back with him. They went to find out why he hadn't been answering Ron's letters and found him locked in his room like he was in Azkaban or something."

Hermione's expression was stiff. "They sound dreadful! Harry barely ever talks about them, you know, and he wasn't unhappy at all to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas or Easter last year. Well, come along."

Percy was heading forward as they closed the door to the second compartment in the car, his worried expression changing to annoyance once he'd spotted the three girls. "I thought I told you to stay put!" he barked at his sister.

"And who made you the boss of me?" Ginny shot back. "Ron's my brother, too, if you'd forgotten."

Percy frowned at her, straightened, and stalked off toward the front of the train in what was obviously intended to be a dignified manner--until a sudden lurch to the car caused him to lose his balance and grab for the wall. At the giggles of the girls he flushed. He angrily straightened his glasses and black hat, checked to see to it his prefect's badge was still there, and passed out of the car.

It was as they approached the last compartment in the car they heard a drawling voice from the open door. "So, Potter appears to have decided not to come back to Hogwarts after all? Good enough, then. Hogwarts will certainly be the better for it!"

Hermione had held the other two girls back at the first sound of the voice. "Malfoy!" she breathed. "He would be glad if they didn't come back to school!"

"Draco Malfoy?" whispered Ginny.

At the older girl's nod, the three of them paused to listen. A girl was talking.

"It's not fair how everyone seems to think how great he is. It's not as if he were anywhere as good at anything as you are."

"Except for getting into trouble," Malfoy said, and all in the compartment laughed.

"Draco," the girl said with surprise, "your shoes aren't polished!"

"I know. Our house elf was nowhere to be found this morning. He'd made breakfast and left it ready, but Mother had to warm it up and bring it to the dining room herself. I hope Father flogs him once he finds him. Mother keeps saying we need to make allowances as he's still young and rather idealistic. After all, he's only a hundred thirty-six, according to Grandmother's household accounts.

"No, what we need," he went on, "is one like the Black's house elf. Now, Kreacher was always perfect, Mother says. Never allowed the laundry to go unfolded and always kept the Black home spotless. She said all she ever needed to do when they were visiting was just mention something and he'd be right there to see to it."

"Is he still working for the Blacks?" the girl asked.

"How would I know? Aunt Black died some years ago. Mother said it was of a broken heart when her one son died and the other ended up in Azkaban. Father says it was from shame that one of her boys ended up in Gryffindor. Even the house shriveled up once she was gone. Used to be somewhere in London, I think."

"I've heard of that," said a boy's voice. "I mean, my grandmum's place just emptied itself out when the old lady died a few years back. My uncle's been trying to talk it into letting him move in, but Dad says it's still in mourning."

The girl sniffed, "No Potter and no Ron Weasley. How _will_ Gryffindor ever survive?"

"It would be nice to get rid of the lot of them!" Malfoy returned darkly.

"Why!" Ginny exclaimed quietly, but not quietly enough, apparently. Immediately several Slytherins had their heads out the door, then the one with the pale blonde hair and sharp features was looking behind the girls, a satisfied smile on his face. The three girls looked around to find a large, thuggish boy was behind him.

"It's true, Draco," he grunted, "Potter and the Weasel aren't on the train!"

"Oh, look," Draco Malfoy smirked. "Maybe the Weasel's not here, but it appears his little sister is! Want to protect your brother's reputation, do you?"

Ginny noted that Hermione had her wand out already, and quietly delved into her jeans pocket to retrieve a dung bomb or two in case she should need them. Hannah looked frightened, but she said, "I think you'd best not try to do anything, as the prefects are searching the train and likely to turn up at any moment."

As luck would have it, at that moment the door at the back of the car opened and through it came an older girl with dark, curly hair and a prefect's badge on her robes. She looked at the tableau with mounting suspicion. "And what have we here?" she demanded.

"We were looking for my brother Ron," Ginny explained.

"You're Percy Weasley's little sister Ginevra, are you?"

Ginny made a sour face at the hated name. "Yes," she admitted.

"Well, you'd best get back to your own car. We've managed to establish that your brother and his friend did not get on the train, and the engineer has agreed to send a message on to Hogwarts for Professor Dumbledore to sort it out. As for you lot," she said sternly to the Slytherins, "You'd best get back into your compartment. Unless the two missing boys are in there, too? No? I thought not."

She kept her attention on the thuggish boy until he made his way past the three girls, "bumping" Hermione perhaps more than was strictly necessary considering the width of the passage, and then indicated the girls should precede her back toward the front of the train. "I know from your reputation you could perhaps have taken on Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, Granger," she said once they were into the next car, "but there were some older students in there, too, and they're not to be ignored if it comes to a squabble. Please don't let yourself get into a fight with them, for I suspect you'd find yourself helplessly outnumbered, and you _are_ only a second year at this point."

Hermione reluctantly nodded her understanding. "I just cannot imagine why they would not get on the train!" she fumed as she followed Ginny and Hannah back into the compartment they'd been sharing with the Patil twins and the other girl, slamming the door closed behind them.

"They were with us at the station," Ginny pointed out.

"But where are they now?"

"I don't know!"

The new girl had slid over into the corner seat by the window while they were gone. Her knitting had grown much longer. Hermione, who'd taken the remaining seat on the same side as Padma and Pavarti, looked at her curiously. "Hello. Are you a first year?"

The girl looked at her warily over her wool, and finally nodded. "Yes. I'm Beth Parsons. I'm from Oxfordshire--Wimblederry, which is just southeast of Banbury."

"I'm Hermione Granger, and these are Padma and Pavarti Patil, and this is Hannah Abbot. We're all second years. Ginny Weasley is first year, too, same as you."

"And her brother's missing?"

"Yes, my brother Ron and his best mate Harry, although I think Hermione's also one of their best friends, too."

"I see." Beth gave them a shy smile, then looked down at her knitting. "I've never been outside Oxfordshire before. This was my first trip to London, really."

"Oh, really? And your family's never taken you to Diagon Alley before?" Hermione asked.

"Not till yesterday. It's me, my mum, and my aunt, you see. My dad's been dead since I was tiny--was killed when a Muggle car hit him at the main roundabout in Banbury. He never was any good at getting across roundabouts, you see."

"Oh, but that's too bad," Hermione said, her sympathy roused.

"My aunt's next thing to a Muggle, really. No real magic at all, and very bitter about it. She married a Muggle herself and never told him. Uncle Terry was really very nice, but he was a lot older than her. They took Mum and me in after Daddy died, but Aunt Lalia said only on the condition we never told him we were witches. Mum would always pretend her wand was a knitting needle, you see. She doesn't seem to mind pretending she's a Muggle, too."

"My parents are both Muggles," Hermione told her. "And Harry lives with his aunt and uncle and cousin who are Muggles, although they're all the worst sort, I'm afraid. Mum and Dad have been very good about it all, and are very keen that if I am a witch I must learn to do it right. When I got my letter, it was brought by a Wizard from the Ministry who sat down and talked to them for a long time and explained things."

"We didn't have to do that, thank heavens," Beth smiled.

"So what does your Uncle Terry think about you going to Hogwarts?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, he died two years ago--heart attack, I'm afraid. Like I said, he was loads older than Aunt Lalia. It's easier now, for we don't have to pretend we're not magic and all--or at least now when we're home. But Aunt Lalia is sure that if we let the neighbors know they'll try to burn us at the stake or send us off to Newgate or such. Can't seem to convince her that they don't do witch hunts any more.

"Aunt Lalia inherited the house and all his money, so we're comfortable, at least. And Mum writes stories she sells to _Witch Weekly_--she does stuff on knitting and writes a good many of the articles on what it's like living next to Muggle neighbors."

"Oh--you mean you're Polyhymnia Parson's daughter?" Padma asked, now interested. "Oh, but your mother's stories are so funny!"

Beth smiled for the first time and even appeared to relax. "Why, thank you!" She looked out the window. "I hope I like it at Hogwarts this year. But it's going to feel funny not having to hide what I am any more, isn't it?"

Hermione smiled. "I rather expect you'll like it, really. I mean, Harry loves it at Hogwarts. I don't think he likes having to pretend he isn't a wizard all the time, either. But he says his aunt and uncle insist."

Ginny asked, "What's Newgate, and why would anyone be sent there?"

"It's a Muggle prison, and during the burning times it's one of the places where they sent those they thought were witches or wizards, you see. We had to learn about it at the village school I went to last year. I think my teacher would have gladly pushed the stool out from under the witches herself, or set fire to the wood when they were burnt. She was a horror!"

After that all went quiet for a time, and when talk began again it was about other things--pets and brothers and boys, and what classes were like at Hogwarts. "Professor Sinistra is my favorite," Pavarti explained. "And I love Astronomy. The nights we get to go up to the astronomy tower are my favorites."

Beth nodded, and glanced out the window. Suddenly her expression appeared startled.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know, really," Beth said. "I thought I saw something, is all."

"Up in the air?"

"Yes."

"A Muggle helicopter, maybe? My dad's potty about the things and would love a ride in one, I think."

"Oh, no--didn't look anything like a helicopter. And it definitely wasn't an airplane, either. It just dipped down from the clouds, just for a moment, and then disappeared right back up into them again!"

"What did it look like?" Ginny asked, scooting closer so she could look out, too.

Beth gave her a worried look. "You won't think I've gone mad, will you?"

"Gone mad? About what?"

"About what it looked like."

"That depends," Padma Patil said loftily, "on what you say it looks like."

Beth got that wary look to her again. She went quiet and turned away, looking again out the window briefly before turning her attention decidedly back to finishing another row.

"Don't mind them," Ginny said softly to her. "Where did you see it?"

"Up there," Beth said, pointing to a certain section of cloud with her now free knitting needle.

"Anything from the trolley, ducks?" asked a voice, and all turned to see a witch with a kindly face at the door to their compartment. Beth hastily stuck her needle through her ball of wool.

As they were finishing their second pumpkin pasties Beth quietly nudged Ginny with her elbow. "There it is again!" she whispered.

Ginny looked out just in time to see something that appeared rather square and blue soaring back up into the clouds and disappearing. Something about the color was familiar. She herself saw it about an hour later. "Why!" she whispered in startlement. "No, they wouldn't!"

"Who wouldn't what?" Beth asked in low tones.

"My brother and Harry--they wouldn't steal my dad's car!"

"Your dad's car? Your dad has a flying car?"

"Shhh!" Ginny hissed. "You mustn't let the others know! You see, Dad works for the Ministry--he could lose his job if they find out he's bewitched a car!"

Beth's features lit up with pleased surprise. She pulled her knitting needle out of her ball of yarn and looked at it thoughtfully, and Ginny suddenly understood--this was Beth's own wand!

Ginny Weasley found herself grinning. She glanced at Hermione, who was discussing Professor Flitwick and the new charms they might learn this year with Hannah Abbot and the twins. So, it appeared that the boys were intent on getting to Hogwarts even if they hadn't made it through the barrier onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters in time, and she'd probably share a class or two at least with Beth Parsons and her knitting. And there was a flying car that was likely to be about the grounds at least this year.

It ought to be an interesting first year at Hogwarts for her!


End file.
